St James St Jacques

"Jesus said to them ’My cup you shall drink, whereas sitting at my left or my right these places are prepared for by my Father.’

Saturday 30 April 2016

2 Co 4,7-15 Ps 125 Mt 20, 20-28

St. James 25th July

"So the mother of James and Jacque came with her son to make a request of him, and bowed low ; and he said to her ’ What is it you want?’

She said to him ’promise that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other one at your left in the Kingdom."

The call of James is a free initiative from Jesus who gives him the necessary help to respond to it. Then for James comes the commitment which is manifested in the path of the response, the opening up of self and the configuration to Jesus Christ who is calling.

Here, James and John are not called but they ask for places through their mother who posterns, imposing herself on Jesus.

Jesus transforms this request into a call in the ’can-you’ addressed to two brothers. The Apostle Saint James, at the prayer of his mother, wants to be close to Jesus! Abandoning his wealth, his house and fishing nets, he follows Jesus.

He heard Jesus’ message announcing his Royalty, and offering Eternal Life.

The mother of the two brothers asks something good for her two sons but it remains on the level of human aspirations. Yet the wonderful reality of the Kingdom is announced! Jesus says first of all he needs to go to Jerusalem, suffer and dies so as to be risen in the Kingdom. Before entering into it, the Apostles will have to go through Jesus’ Passion. To share his part we have to share his way, share his life. This is how the place we shall take next to Jesus is announced.

"Jesus answered the mother of the sons of Zebedee ’You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?

They replied ’We can.’

He said to them :’Very well ; you shall drink my cup, but as for seats at my right hand and my left, these are not mine to grant ; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted by my Father."

Jesus doesn’t break the dialogue with the mother and brothers, on the contrary, he questions the sons in placing them in front. Jesus clarifies the situation by talking directly to them : ’Can you drink the cup I shall drink?’

The light is done after the generous and extensive answer of the two brothers : ’We can indeed.’

Jesus answers ’My cup, you shall drink it.’

To drink the cup is a future evocation of the future Eucharistic cup. It is an expression of the solidarity between Jesus and his disciples, a manifestation of the pascal way that the disciples will have to follow, following his Master.

The generous ’yes’ of James and John is going to become a true ’amen’ which takes on the weakness and fragility of the diciples.We can only obtain the glory he proposes to us when we first of all accept the Cross.

Jesus’ answer places the importance upon accepting to drink from the same ’cup’ as himself, to be ready to give one’s life in the service of our brothers, with the same merciful attitude as he has. In following Jesus we give ourselves entirely to Him, with confidence.

“Jesus called the twelve and said to them ’ You know that among the gentiles the rulers lord it over them, and great men make their authority felt. Among you this is not to happen. No; anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must your slave, just as the Son of man came to not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

To drink the cup of Jesus means to be very close to Him : ’My cup, you shall drink it.’ And you shall be able to enter into a surprising glorification, the victory of Love, in its full blossoming.

Jesus is asking if we shall be able to follow him in the Love by which he is going to save you, and glorify the Father at the same time?

We are in the Church’s boat that floats on the waves with a head wind in a stormy weather.

We hold out because Jesus is there, living his passion and Resurrection in us.

Following Jesus requires great humility. Since being baptised we have been called to be his witnesses to transform the world. Subject to our limits, our sins, we begin to drink from the cup of bitterness of Jesus.

’At each instant we go through trials, but we are not crushed’, says Saint James ’In our life the power of God’s infinite Love is exerted by small adjustments to his heart which always impose themselves on us if we want to follow Him.

The ten will also follow the same way, thy too will also drink fully from the same cup.

We ask fro the grace to understand how we are called to share the Life of the Lord Jesus!